November 29, 2006

Health Improving

11/27/06

Rain, rain, rain, and more rain. It doesn’t matter because I’m stuck inside anyway. I have a doctor’s appointment on Friday, and that will be the first time I’ve been out of the condo since Peter brought me home this past Saturday. Hopefully the doctor will give me the green light and I’ll feel safe to at least walk to the pool and sit there in the mornings. I still feel extremely unsteady, but I’m walking back and forth through the condo as fast as I can, 10 times, several times a day. I started lifting my little ten-pound weights yesterday, and ye gads – I’m pathetic – what a struggle! At my age, I guess the body isn’t producing new cells fast enough. Then I get sick on top of that and a whole bunch of cells are killed by the fever, and now I’m in a deficit from which it will be difficult to recover. But, recover I will! Thanks for putting up with my complaints, dear Journal.

11/29/06

The sun is in and out of puffy clouds blowing in off the Atlantic and it’s in the mid seventies going to eighty something today. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I went for a short walk early this morning. Peter walked with me before leaving for work and school. I didn’t ask, he just saw me outside and came out immediately.

“You shouldn’t be out by yourself, Isaac.”

“I don’t have permission from the doctor, but here I am. I just had to get out into this glorious weather.”

“Why didn’t you call?”

“Honestly, Peter. I’m okay.”

“I’ll just walk with you, and we’ll talk.”

“That bench over there does look terribly good,” I said, slightly out-of-breath.

Peter stayed with me until I had rested, walked me back to my front door, and I thanked him. My young hunk of a neighbor is a sweetie-pie.

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November 26, 2006

I’m Not Dead!

Damn! I’m tired of being sick, weak, and exhausted. The next time I have a cold, I’ll go to the doctor immediately, and I don’t care if he says-

“you have a virus, go home and live through it.” I’ll throw a temper tantrum and insist on having antibiotics immediately.

Other than that, what can I say, dear Journal, but apologize for ignoring you for so long. The first week in the hospital is a blur. I ran an extremely high temperature, was delirious, and evidently came close to death. I do remember seeing my neighbor Peter sitting by the bed often, and I saw my Peter of Varnastrama there too, as was Rebecca. So, I must have been delirious. My temperature broke 4 days after being hospitalized, and I was removed to a local nursing facility 2 days after that. I remained there until Adam flew down during his Thanksgiving holiday and moved me home yesterday. He flies back to New Jersey tomorrow. I still don’t feel like doing much of anything. However, as my health has improved, I’ve had copious amounts of time to on my hands as I rest. I have filled the void with reading and writing. I read every issue of Time magazine that could be pirated to me from the hospital waiting room and later, the nursing home lobby. Based on that reading I’ve written a small political piece about Barack Obama. Please go to Isaac’s Political Journal to find it. I think it’s an interesting read because it discusses a liberal Christian worldview as opposed to the institutionalized and rigid evangelical one.

I almost missed out on the November election, but Peter got an affidavit, absentee ballot, and a Notary Public to my room in the hospital because I threw a semi-delirious fit on the way there. So, I voted, and we’ve got the majority back in both the House, and the Senate. Yeah for the USA! Mr. Bush and his cronies can’t just run rough shod over the entire three hundred million of us anymore, though I’m afraid we’re stuck with Mr. Bush’s conservative Supreme Court for the next thirty years. It’s amazing, but I think that news helped bring me back from the brink because I want to be present in an America that isn’t totally doomed by the politics of fear of terror and the scapegoating of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

I’m tired now and going to take one of my many catnaps. With improving health I should be able write more often, dear Journal.

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November 06, 2006

I feel like (BLEEP)!

I’m dizzy.

I ache.

I’m having trouble breathing.

In fact, I feel so bad, dear Journal that I’m taking myself down to the car right now. I’ve called Peter’s family and he is on his way over to drive me to the hospital. I also called Adam before he left for work. He asked me to have Peter call him at school and leave my hospital room number with one of the office secretaries when I’m settled in. In turn, he will call Ruth and Samuel, and Samuel Junior as well. Adam will ask Ruth to call Abraham and Joseph. So, I’m covered – all the family will be informed. All I have to do is get diagnosed, get treated, and get better.

I’m a bit worried its pneumonia. I’ve had a cold that I was ignoring, because normally I just have to suffer through the darned things for about ten days. Well, not this time. I may not be on line for some time, and all thought of travel to Mexico is off, at least for now.

I wonder if I can vote from the hospital. Tomorrow’s the day - one of the most important elections in history – and I wonder if we’ll have another fiasco like 2000 and/or 2004. And now we have electronic voting machines with no paper trail!

Vive le Democratic Party! And, good luck.

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November 03, 2006

Spanish Continued: Traveling to Mexico and the Riots in Oaxaca

Here I am with the desire to go to Mexico, and I’m reading about the riots in Oaxaca. These began with a teacher’s strike back in May of this year, and escalated as other groups joined in, asking for the resignation of the governor of that state, Ulises Ruiz. There is the suggestion that the problem is related to political involvement with drug lords (“Perhaps the politicos are the drug lords, Isaac.”) There I go talking to myself again. Be that as it may, Oaxaca is on the other side of Mexico, a thousand miles to the South and West, on the Pacific side, from the state of Quintana Roo where I would visit. I doubt fighting would spread to the Mayan Riviera. It’s the kind of situation that only makes me want to visit all the more. So, I’m including a couple of photographs from my last visit, and another one of my Spanish worksheets.
Tulum, looking toward Northeast

Tropical Foliage, Playacar

Traveling with Spanish

1. I would like to cash these travelers checks.

Quisiera cobrar estos cheques de viajeros.
Querría cambiar estos cheques de viajeros.

2. Do I need to use the ATM instead?

¿Necesito utilizar la ATM en lugar de otro?
¿Necesito utilizar la atmósfera en lugar de otro?
¿Necesito utilizar el cajero automático en lugar de otro?

ATM U.S. (abr de Automated-Teller Machine) cajero automático – or “la atmósfera” - or pronounce letters of alphabet in Spanish “A – T - M”

Yes, it is in the front of the lobby (building)(corridor), on the left.
Sí, está en la frente del vestíbulo (edificio) (pasillo), a la izquierda.

Yes, it is in the back of the lobby, in the center.
Sí, está en la parte posteriora del vestíbulo, en el centro.

Yes, it is straight ahead, in the front of the building.
_ sí, él ser todo derecho, en delantero edificio. _

Yes, it is straight ahead, in front of the building.
Sí, es recto, delante del edificio.

3. Where is the ATM?

¿Donde está la A-T-M?
¿Donde está la atmósfera?
¿Donde esta el cajero automático?

You go straight ahead to the front of the lobby.
You go straight ahead to the front of the Bank.
Usted va todo derecho al frente del vestíbulo.
Usted va todo derecho al frente del banco.

You go to the right, and it’s in the center of the lobby.
Usted va a la derecha, y está en el centro del vestíbulo.

Well, there you have it. I'm getting myself more fired up here every day. Perhaps I will go to Mexico once again.

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